news, journals and articles from all over the world.
California legislators have allocated UC San Diego $35 million to design and build a new coastal research vessel with a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-hybrid propulsion system.
The new vessel, which will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, will serve as a platform for essential education and research dedicated to understanding the California coast and climate change impacts to the coastal ecosystem.
Irvine, Calif., July 22, 2021 – To meet an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, California’s policymakers are relying in part on forests and shrublands to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but researchers at the University of California, Irvine warn that future climate change may limit the ecosystem’s ability to perform this service.
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center today announced it has joined the Decade of Ag movement, recognizing that a unified vision of sustainable food, fiber and energy systems for the future requires collaboration, endorsement and advancement from across the agricultural value chain.
On the road leading to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, drivers may notice that many of the green trees lining the entrance to the lab are dappled with brown leaves. Just weeks past the summer solstice, this phenomenon is out of place and is in fact evidence of another natural occurrence: cicada “flagging.”
Ten years after one of the largest nuclear accidents in history spewed radioactive contamination over the landscape in Fukushima, Japan, a University of Georgia study has shown that radioactive contamination in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone can be measured through its resident snakes.
Scientists from the U.S. and South Africa are launching a campaign to map marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species and ecosystems in one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots: the Greater Cape Floristic Region at the southwestern edge of South Africa.
Carbon Collect’s carbon capture system, based on the research of Klaus Lackner, an engineering professor at Arizona State University, has been selected for a $2.5 million award to support the design of three carbon farms using the company’s passive direct…
An invasive species of aphid could put some threatened plant species on Kangaroo Island at risk as researchers from the University of South Australia confirm Australia’s first sighting of Aphis lugentis on the Island’s Dudley Peninsula.
Draining waterlogged farm fields helps crops but can leach nitrogen into waterways. A three-decade-long experiment is helping farmers strike the right balance.
Scientists are looking at ways to make more of this natural pesticide
Irvine, Calif., June 21, 2021 – A shift is happening in Southern California, and this time it has nothing to do with earthquakes. According to a new study by scientists at the University of California, Irvine, climate change is altering the number of plants populating the region’s deserts and mountains. Using data from the Landsat satellite mission and focusing on an area of nearly 5,000 square miles surrounding Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the research team found that between 1984 and 2017, vegetation cover in desert ecosystems decreased overall by about 35 percent, with mountains seeing a 13 percent vegetation decline.
Climate change will shape the future of coastal communities, with flood walls, elevated structures and possibly floating cities used to combat sea level rise. New research has found that managed retreat must be part of the solution now, and not a last resort.
As triple-digit temperatures scorch millions in California and the Desert West, stoking wildfires and exacerbating drought conditions, Johns Hopkins experts can discuss the environmental and health impacts of the heat wave, and how officials can better prepare for the rest…
A recent study shows bioreactors effectively remove nitrogen over time
Microbes “breathing in rust” plays an important role in soils
The free online series of short videos are designed to provide basic, jargon-free scientific information on harmful algal blooms: what they are; where they live and grow; and causes, impacts, and potential mitigation of blooms. The series is directed toward resource managers and decision-makers as well as the general public.
When nature vanishes, people of color and low-income Americans disproportionally lose critical environmental and health benefits–including air quality, crop productivity and disease control–a new study in Nature Communications finds.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered a single gene that simultaneously boosts plant growth and tolerance for stresses such as drought and salt, all while tackling the root cause of climate change by enabling plants to pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
All fish are not created equal, at least when it comes to nutritional benefits. This truth has important implications for how declining fish biodiversity can affect human nutrition, according to a computer modeling study led by Cornell and Columbia University researchers.
Wildflowers found to absorb runoff just as effectively as turfgrass, among other benefits
Indians are bracing for the wrath of a powerful cyclone bearing down on the eastern part of the country, while COVID-19 continues to ravage communities with infections and deaths, and after a freak tornado killed two people and damaged homes…
Three dozen dwarf galaxies far from each other had a simultaneous “baby boom” of new stars, an unexpected discovery that challenges current theories on how galaxies grow and may enhance our understanding of the universe. Galaxies more than 1 million light-years apart should have completely independent lives in terms of when they give birth to new stars. But galaxies separated by up to 13 million light-years slowed down and then simultaneously accelerated their birth rate of stars, according to a Rutgers-led study published in the Astrophysical Journal.
As Ford unveils its electric F150, West Virginia University experts note the shift from gasoline-powered engines is not an environmental panacea in the short term, but instead will mean significant and costly upgrades to the nation’s infrastructure. Citing recent events,…
Five years after the disastrous wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, researchers are warning that the complex role of peatlands, a factor critical to projecting the risk and behaviour of future fires, is missing from the forecasting model.
Irvine, Calif., May 17, 2021 — Greenhouse gases and aerosol pollution emitted by human activities are responsible for increases in the frequency, intensity and duration of droughts around the world, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine. In a study published recently in Nature Communications, scientists in UCI’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering showed that over the past century, the likelihood of stronger and more long-lasting dry spells grew in the Americas, the Mediterranean, western and southern Africa and eastern Asia.
Wild orangutans are known for their ability to survive food shortages, but scientists have made a surprising finding that highlights the need to protect the habitat of these critically endangered primates, which face rapid habitat destruction and threats linked to climate change. Scientists found that the muscle mass of orangutans on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia was significantly lower when less fruit was available. That’s remarkable because orangutans are thought to be especially good at storing and using fat for energy, according a Rutgers-led study in the journal Scientific Reports.
With its tree-laden campus and adjacent protected natural reserves, UCI enjoys being home to a great variety of bird species. One particular raptor continues to capture the attention of the many avid birders in Orange County: the white-tailed kite. This iconic bird of Orange County – named for its ability to hover in the air while hunting –nearly went extinct throughout California in the early 1900s due to human-related threats.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced that James G. Anderson, the Philip S. Weld Professor in Chemistry at Harvard University, is the recipient of the 2021 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences. The international biennial Prize, which includes a $250,000 award, is conferred this year in Environmental Chemistry.
The Antarctic ice sheet is much less likely to become unstable and cause dramatic sea-level rise in upcoming centuries if the world follows policies that keep global warming below a key 2015 Paris climate agreement target, according to a Rutgers coauthored study. But if global warming exceeds the target – 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) – the risk of ice shelves around the ice sheet’s perimeter melting would increase significantly, and their collapse would trigger rapid Antarctic melting. That would result in at least 0.07 inches of global average sea-level rise a year in 2060 and beyond, according to the study in the journal Nature.
Living materials, which are made by housing biological cells within a non-living matrix, have gained popularity in recent years as scientists recognize that often the most robust materials are those that mimic nature.
A new Cornell University-led study examines how temperature affects fishing behavior and catches among inland fisher households in Cambodia, with important implications for understanding climate change.
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 22, 2021) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick professors Robert E. Kopp and Pamela McElwee are available for interviews on President Biden’s new plan, unveiled on Earth Day, for the United States to roughly halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. “Stabilizing the global…
Irvine, Calif., April 22, 2021 — California’s wildfire problem, fueled by a concurrence of climate change and a heightened risk of human-caused ignitions in once uninhabited areas, has been getting worse with each passing year of the 21st century. Researchers in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine have conducted a thorough analysis of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wildfire statistics from 2000 to 2019, comparing them with data from 1920 to 1999.
California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance programs promote sustainability
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented disruption in supply chains across multiple sectors including the shortage of critical personal protective equipment (PPE). In addition to hand washing and social distancing, various PPE items are used to prevent contact with…
President Biden is expected to announce a U.S. commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030, as the administration pushes for other nations to make aggressive commitments to fight climate change. Flavio Lehner, a climate scientist…
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 20, 2021) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick allergy specialist Leonard Bielory is available for interviews on the spring allergy season in New Jersey. “One can expect a brisk allergy season this year since we had a lot…
Researchers at The University of South Australia’s Future Industries Institute have developed technology that could eliminate water stress for millions of people, including those living in many of the planet’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.
Irvine, Calif., April 15, 2021 — By analyzing gains and losses in the genes of phytoplankton samples collected in all major ocean regions, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have created the most nuanced and high-resolution map yet to show where these photosynthetic organisms either thrive or are forced to adapt to limited quantities of key nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — University at Buffalo researchers are available to discuss the history of Earth Day and the future of environmental activism. Adam Rome, PhD Professor of Environment and Sustainability UB College of Arts and Sciences [email protected] Rome is an…
Plastics cycle through the oceans and roadways and become plastic dust, which rides the jet stream across continents.
Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who championed the theory of evolution, noted that corals form far-reaching structures, largely made of limestone, that surround tropical islands. He didn’t know how they performed this feat. Now, Rutgers scientists have shown that coral structures consist of a biomineral containing a highly organized organic mix of proteins that resembles what is in our bones. Their study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, shows for the first time that several proteins are organized spatially – a process that’s critical to forming a rock-hard coral skeleton.
Irvine, Calif., April 7, 2021 — Following last year’s successful launch of a global carbon monitor website to track and display greenhouse gas emissions from a variety of sources, an international team led by Earth system scientists from the University of California, Irvine is unveiling this week a new data resource focused on the United States.
Scientists uncover genetic traits to breed better barley for northern environments
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 6, 2021) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick microbial oceanographer Kay D. Bidle is available for interviews on the persistent and profound impact of viral infections on algae in the oceans. These infections influence the Earth’s carbon cycle, which helps…
Overfishing likely did not cause the Atlantic cod, an iconic species, to evolve genetically and mature earlier, according to a study led by Rutgers University and the University of Oslo – the first of its kind – with major implications for ocean conservation.
Despite important agricultural advancements to feed the world in the last 60 years, a Cornell University-led study shows that global farming productivity is 21% lower than it could have been without climate change. This is the equivalent of losing about seven years of farm productivity increases since the 1960s.
Every year, an estimated four percent of the world’s vegetated land surface burns, leaving more than 250 megatons of carbonized plants behind. For the first time, a study by the University of Vienna has now recorded elevated concentrations of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFR) in these charcoals – in some cases even up to five years after the fire.
The world’s first wildlife conservation bond will be sold by the World Bank this year — meant to raise sufficient funds to boost the endangered black rhinoceros population in South Africa. John Tobin is an expert on environmental and energy…
For the past 50 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has been assembling counts of bald eagle nests to track the triumphant recovery of America’s national symbol. But in its new bald eagle population report – tabulated with the help of results using eBird data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology – the USFWS found many more eagles than previously thought to exist in the Lower 48 states.
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